The two key words to avoiding IT disasters:- Backups and PlanningI offer a service to assess your exposure to the risk of IT disaster, advise how to improve the situation and help with preparation for what we hope will never happen.

Computer Data RecoveryBelow are some of theconsiderations that need to beaddressed. The comments hereare aimed at businesses and theself-employed but could applyequally to any home user whouses a computer seriously forphotography, art, writing, music ormany other hobbies.Anyone who relies on theircomputer and especially on theinformation stored inside shouldask themselves how big aproblem they would face if thecomputer and/or data were totallylost. For business users the losscould easily affect all aspects oftheir daily work and ability tooperate; whilst accounts and suchmight be recreated from othersources, the main loss will be inthe working time taken toreassemble and recreate all thefiles, documents and resourcesbuilt up in the past trading history. For home users the loss might beupsetting and for example storeddigital photos might be impossibleto replace.

The bigger the imagined problem,the more important it is to plan forthe worst and take steps to reduce the risk and the impact of thedisaster.Backups are the first line ofdefence and most peopleunderstand the concept but it ishuman nature to assume all willbe well and to put off or forget todo backups. If you don't have backups, youneed to do it NOW and I can helpwith advice. I can supplyexpertise, supplies etc to get youstarted. For businesses backups areABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL andthere is no excuse for not havingthem. You'll only have yourself toblame if disaster strikes, goingwithout backups is like sky-divingwithout a parachute!OK so now you have backups ofyour important data, that's greatbut it isn't the whole story. Backups partly protect you fromthe sort of disasters that affect thePC's proper operation e.g.windows crashes, viruses, failed

hardware etc (although you'll need more than a backup to recoverfrom these).Unfortunately simple backups donot necessarily protect againstexternal disasters:-Theft – burglars will take the PC,external backup devices, memorysticks, sometimes even the CDsand DVDs so if your backups arein any of the usual places, theycould be lost along with the PCand data. Software and licencesare also a target for thieves andare difficult and costly to replace.Fire & Flood – similar to theft inthat all external backups are lostas well as the PC, software anddata.The problems recovering fromthese big external risks can all bereduced by maintaining an up-to-date off-site backup by eitherusing an internet-based backupservice or keeping a backup (onDVD or an external drive) atdifferent premises such as arelative's house (security anddata protection legislation mightbecome an issue here).